Comic Vine News

Geeks and Jocks: Can't We All Just Get Along?

With cosplay and other similar practices, do they have more in common than they believe?

There was an article in a prominent men's magazine that was incredibly derisive of the geeky practice of cosplaying. I won't link to it here because it was an inflammatory article which I believe was written for the purpose of getting people angry and jacking up their site views and comments, but suffice it to say the article was not flattering. Why do I suspect it was written for this purpose? Because geeks and jocks (for lack of better words) are fundamentally the same kinds of people, just with different passions. I know neither side of this article wants to hear this about themselves, as a geek I spent a huge chunk of my formative years trying NOT to be a jock (just as they had no interest in being anything like me), but it's become clear to me over the years, and through many different and varied friendships, that these words are just titles we use to divide ourselves.

WE HAVE LITERALLY NOT ONE SINGLE PIECE OF COMMON GROUND!!== TEASER ==

Cosplaying

Pictured: Cosplaying

Let's start by ripping apart the example above: my roommate recently went to a major event where he saw people as dressing up in costumes to declare their allegiances to two different squads. They generally hung out with like-minded individuals and were derisive of their rivals, both verbally and very nearly physically in some cases. Then he saw the coup de grace: a man dressed as Jason Voorhees holding a fake head that had a hat announcing its membership to a rival group. The event was a Raiders game.

For those unfamiliar: the Oakland Raiders are an American Football team with an extremely passionate hardcore fanbase called "The Black Hole" (the Raiders' colors being silver and black) who dress in elaborate garb, usually involving spiked shoulder pads and helmets, skull masks, and silver facepaint. How is this ANY different from cosplaying? They're not actually "raiders" (in terms of either the team NOR the concept) and they all know that, but they enjoy dressing up to support and advertise something they're passionate about. That's one example, but we're only just getting started, my lovelies.

Message Boards

YOUR INABILITY TO ADMIT THE VANCOUVER CANUCKS' SUPERIORITY OVER THE SAN JOSE SHARKS IS ALMOST AS INFURIATING AS YOUR LOVE OF SPIDER-MAN OVER BATMAN!!!!

Go to a Raiders message board and declare yourself a dyed-in-the-wool fan of the San Francisco 49ers (their bitter rivals). Alright, now quickly go to a DC forum and declare yourself a dyed-in-the-wool Marvel Zombie. Not only will you elicit similar reactions but, depending on how well-moderated the forum is, you'll probably find yourself the victims of almost the same exact insults.

At best your taste and sense will be called into question, and at worst it'll likely be your predilictions for after-hours activities involving male genitalia and your mother's nightly romps. And if you have an openly feminine handle it only gets worse as in both cases you'll likely be assaulted not only by hilariously outdated sexism masked as edginess, but by numerous people asking what you even think you're doing on the board.

And it's basically the same if you went on a hockey or video game forum. This isn't a recent development either. Despite the internet having made it easier and more anonymous than ever to craft insults that would make Charles Bukowski blush, it's by no means "new." If you've ever been to a sporting event, you'll hear people insults not only at the players, but at each other, from across entire statiums. People get into fights and even seriously hurt both in the crowd and parking lots, much like how forum bickering occassionally spills into the "real" world. which of course leads me into...

The Fanboyism

The creative bankruptcy at DC is an OBJECTIVE AND MEASURABLE FACT just as is the CHEATING WAYS OF EVERY SINGLE YANKEES TEAM!

I've always had a slight preference for Marvel over DC, but I'm very aware of it and readily admit it. By that same token, and as I've previously admitted, DC has far more stories that I'd call "classics" or place in my favorites of all time. How do I justify this? I don't need to, it's simply the way my mind works.

There are others, though, who can't see their way past justifying anything of the sort. They're so passionate about something, so utterly consumed by it, that they've lost all ability to be objective. Whether it's a sports team with a terrible record that's still the best and only there because literally every other team in the league is filled to the brim with cheaters and bought-off refs, or that Marvel has never put out a single story that is even remotely worth reading, these hyperbolic declarations are often not taken as hyperbole, but as actual, objecitve fact.

With sports this becomes MORE ridiculous because you have things like records and facts staring you in the face telling you which team actually IS the best (at least for a single season) while comic books are a subjective art form, so it IS possible, however unlikely, that someone actually believes every single book put out by a major publisher to be unreadable dreck.

Interesting article and true, some people just have skewed views on what is socially acceptable.. I know next to nothing about american football but for some reason I always liked the Raiders I used to have a hat with a metal plate on it with there badge and everything.

lol i played football and all my friends were jocks like myself, but obviously since i am here i am a nerd too. i also played the saxophone in high school, but i think being a savage defensive end "made up for it" to them. from being friends with jocks i can tell you that you dont wanna be. alll my football buddies are either dropouts, drug addicts, or on roids and not evenb playing sports..or in college...and at parties they roid rage and break things.

There's also the point that fantasy sports leagues are merely pencil and paper roleplaying games for jocks, and that both groups tend to memorize endless statistics and bits of trivia about their entertainment passion of choice and its related personalities.

There's also the point that fantasy sports leagues are merely pencil and paper roleplaying games for jocks, and that both groups tend to memorize endless statistics and bits of trivia about their entertainment passion of choice and its related personalities.

I'm from Chicago and a HUGE Bears fan along with being a comic geek. Well linebacker Lance Briggs is a comic geek himself. He would talk about how it is in the locker room and liking comics but he's not discouraged. He follows events and he thought it was funny Solder Field was blown up in the beginning of Siege. Now he has his own series he writes.

When it all comes down to it we pour time and effort and knowledge into certain subjects because we feel passionately about them. While that serves as a bridge between the practices of geeks and jocks it's also a double edged sword that simultaneously keeps them divided. The more passionately one feels about something, the more difficult it becomes to acknowledge the existence of similar passions in similar subjects in similar people. For example I doubt any baseball fan in his right mind would admit that fantasy baseball stats are painfully similar to stats and character histories in an comic character's handbook. While most stats in baseball, football, and basketball are helpful and serve to further the coache's or manager's ability to lead the team there are also a multitude of pointless stats that serve only to fill air time between plays and in certain cases make a color commentator look like he knows what he's talking about even though he only got the job because his dad was Jack Buck. Dammit Joe I can't believe people pay you to do this.

There's also the point that fantasy sports leagues are merely pencil and paper roleplaying games for jocks, and that both groups tend to memorize endless statistics and bits of trivia about their entertainment passion of choice and its related personalities.

ha I never even thought of that

I was actually going to add that point, but I don't know enough about Fantasy League stuff to make a complete point and I didn't want to half-ass it.

Well - clearly the other article was tongue in cheek and quite possibly an attempt to grab hold the attention of people who would be on the internet more (us geeks) and could prop up their number, so good for you for not linking it to your own article. But you know - I think the supposed line of Jocks vs Geeks is a myth. With girls, maybe its more the "Mean Girls" cheerleader in place of the jock, yet even then, my experience in high school was there wasn't any people in my group who were interested in comics and there was no line of "them" vs the "in-crowd." If I had to pick which of the two I was, I was in the latter but if I had met up with someone interested in comics, I would have glommed on to them, regardless of "group" they belonged to. Even saying that feels strange as I don't think there were even that type of unwritten caste system in my school.

Anyway - lots of jocks on CV, and lots of geeks screaming in the stands of many a sports-event. I appreciate the break-down in this article - the hypocrisy on the "Jock" side of things is hilarious. Well done. Oh, and one more thing?

YOUR INABILITY TO ADMIT THE VANCOUVER CANUCKS' SUPERIORITY OVER THE SAN JOSE SHARKS

IS ALMOST AS INFURIATINGAS YOUR LOVE OF SPIDER-MAN OVER BATMAN!!!!

I agree with the first sentiment but not with the second. Go Canucks, GO and WOOHOO Spiderman! (ducks and hides)

@lykopis: So, I am not a fan of Hockey. My brother loves it however and he is a Bruins fan. I however do have a favorite team. The Mighty Ducks. I have quite a bit of memorabilia for them actually. Like a puck, licences plate, etc. I am saddened that they stopped being so Mighty after I left them.

I can't believe someone actually thinks people into sports and people who play them bully people who read comics and stuff and that area. This is always the worst stereotype. You do know if you were to mention someone like wolverine to them they would know who it is on an instant. They're and myself are people who've played sports and go to the movies watch comic based films and read comics and attend conventions as well.

It's ironic when I think back on my group of friends and how we all represented a very different stereotype. I was the geek, one was the nerd, another was the hippie, the other was a punk, there was a pretty boy and a jock, a rich ass to round up my group of friends.

@lykopis: Spiderman is pretty cool. I am his number one fan. I am glad he isn't a dweb like Puny Parker.

Um....I think you should know something.....

@Daveyo520 said:

@lykopis: So, I am not a fan of Hockey. My brother loves it however and he is a Bruins fan. I however do have a favorite team. The Mighty Ducks. I have quite a bit of memorabilia for them actually. Like a puck, licences plate, etc. I am saddened that they stopped being so Mighty after I left them.

Your brother must have been over the moon then last season - I could barely stomach it (although I was in Toronto at the time, thank goodness.) I still laugh at the Ducks - sorry. Even when they kick the Maple Leafs @ss, another joke of a team..,

What we need to do is somehow incorporate sabermetrics into the realm of comics and then we will be accepted. Heh nevermind I just saw Moneyball and think its a great movie and seems to somehow strike a similar chord as this article does.

Ya he was super happy to have them win. Don't feel too bad though, most of the Bruins are Canadians lol. I only really care about the Ducks because they were my home team, and I haven't really switched to the Bruins. Also they had the movies, lol.

I came from a Nation where Football is "El Deporte Rey" (by Football I mean that beautiful form of art in a green field and a black and white ball, and not that brutish slugfest gringos inexplicably enjoy). And I can tell you the Fanboyism for the Sport is sometimes wilder than the most hard-core geeks out there. Look for the fans of the America if you don't believe me

Because the details are not the why. People judge each other and abuse each other whether " geeks " to " jocks " or " jocks " to " geeks " or whomever else to whomever else because, they enjoy doing it, they get off on it, they savor malice and the ridicule of others. Word, spend your time around and focusing on those who would into treat you as such, rather with love and compassion, and fun, and leave the rest in the bell jar.

Even in high school I found the irony of jocks making fun of geeks for their practices. Same for someone who makes fun of a person for playing a game for 3+ hours a day but then will turn around and watch any and all games on television for hours straight. In high school I played basketball and soccer but still was into comics and everything. I never really got made fun of for it but I went to a smaller private school where everyone pretty much knew each other.

It does make me kind of bitter that the kind of people who picked on me for reading comics are the same people who now quote "Why so serious?" and think these movies are badass. I'm the better man enough to know that everyone is welcome to join in, provided they are respectful to the culture*. If even one person from my past has opened their mind and changed their attitude from being oppressive to being accepting, I'm not the type to say, "No, too late."

*By that I mean, yes...you have seen Iron Man 1 and 2. That doesn't mean you get to sit there and tell me that he'd beat Wonder Woman in a fight.

lol i played football and all my friends were jocks like myself, but obviously since i am here i am a nerd too. i also played the saxophone in high school, but i think being a savage defensive end "made up for it" to them. from being friends with jocks i can tell you that you dont wanna be. alll my football buddies are either dropouts, drug addicts, or on roids and not evenb playing sports..or in college...and at parties they roid rage and break things.

Same situation here ^^ all of my male friends are jocks and they too are either drug addicts or on roids !